Palm Oil
According
to WWF, 300 million ha of tropical rainforest were converted to
non-forest land-uses during the last two decades of the 20th century. A great
part of the world's palm oil plantations can be found in these converted rainforest
areas. Palm oil is not the only and probably not the most important cause
of rainforest destruction, but it clearly plays a role.
In principle, palm oil can be grown in a sustainable way, even more sustainably than competing oils, but only if a number of sustainability criteria have been met for the establishment of new plantations and the management of existing plantations. This is the reason why WWF and Unilever set up a round table on sustainable palm oil with palm oil-related traders, producers, retailers and investors. SAI Platform actively contributed to the organization of the first meeting of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, which was held in Kuala-Lumpur, Malaysia, on August 21-22. It was a historic first, bringing together over 200 delegates from industry and interest groups from 16 countries around the world. As a first major step towards promoting sustainably produced palm oil, there was consensus among participants that a common code of conduct and practice has to be developed, agreed upon and implemented. In April 2004, the "Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil" (RSPO) was registered as a not-for-profit organisation in Switzerland - see RSPO Official Press Release.
The second conference on sustainable palm oil was held on October 5-6, 2004, in Jakarta. The meeting, which was attended by over 300 participants, was opened by the Minister of Agriculture of Indonesia as a sign that the subject is taken seriously. The conference agreed to put a Criteria Working Group in place. This group, 25 people representing growers, supply chain, environmental NGOs and social NGOs, is working on a set of criteria for sustainable palm oil. The work is being sponsored by HSBC and DOEN Foundation. Criteria should be ready by end 2005.
The third Roundtable Meeting on Sustainable Palm Oil was held on Nov. 22-23, 2005 in Singapore. It focussed on the presentation of Principles & Criteria (P&C) for sustainable palm oil production, which had been developed over the last 12 months. The 8 Principles and 39 Criteria cover legal, environmental, social and economic aspects including a cut-off date for deforestation of primary rainforest and High Conservation Value Forest. Following the Roundtable, the General Assembly of RSPO members adopted the Principles & Criteria. A trial period of 2 years will be used to finish and detail the guidance documents to the P&C and run a number of implementation trials. National Working Groups in producing countries will co-ordinate this work. Special attention will be given to verification of the implementation of the Principles & Criteria at the plantation level.
Jan-Kees Vis, who works for SAI Platform member company Unilever, is the President of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil. Since January 2005, SAI Platform is also an Affiliate Member of the Roundtable.
For further information, visit RSPO website: http://www.sustainable-palmoil.org.